I tilt my face to the side, trying my best to appear innocent. “Are you sure of that?”
Doubt clouds his features. “Of course I’m sure.”
“Interesting.”
“Why is that interesting?”
“It’s just that a lot of your men have offered me assistance when I go out to look for flowers to make dyes with,” I lie, hoping the fear of his tribe mates mating with me, a lesser, will make him more agreeable to me staying.
“Who would do that?”
“You know what? Never mind.”
“No, tell me which of my tribe mates wishes to dip their quill in lesser ink!”
I double over, giggling for a long minute before standing back up and placing my hands on my hips. “How…poetic of you.”
A vein pops out on his neck, allowing me to see his pulse.
A part of me feels bad, because he did my tribe a favor by bringing Amber back, only to be greeted by someone occupying his hut.
But was her rescue really a favor?
A knock sounds on the door and Ramsey storms to answer it.
Gaerth is on the other side.
“Why are you here?” Ramsey looks like he’s about to pounce.
“The men are gathering to hunt.”
“I do not care to hunt today.”
“You care not to hunt?” Gaerth’s voice rises in question.
“He wants to spend time with me,” I interject, hoping it’ll get him to leave.
Ramsey turns toward me, his face awash with horror.
Gaerth places his hands up and backs away. “Say no more.”
“I do not want to spend time with you!” Ramsey bellows. “I merely want to make sure you do not let a family of vaeyarks move in.”
“Why would she do that?” Gaerth asks, clearly confused.
Ramsey starts searching the floor, lifting my weaves and calling, “Come out, you little vaeyark—show yourself!”
Harold pokes his little head out from a log of wood, and I pray he goes overlooked because I honestly don’t know what Ramsey would do to him.
Gaerth steps inside, placing a hand on Ramsey’s shoulder. “Perhaps you should come with me. The air will be fresh, and the hunt will liven your blood.”
Ramsey searches through my weaves, sighing when he comes up empty-handed.
“Come, the day is still young,” Gaerth urges.
Ramsey nods and sucks in a breath, exhaling it slowly. “Maybe a hunt will clear my mind.”
6
